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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29448078">Blurry lines</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireFistAce/pseuds/FireFistAce'>FireFistAce</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>You can't decide not to care anymore (because I care, and I'll make you care about this, too) [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anbu Maito Gai | Might Guy, no beta we die like men</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 18:26:51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,825</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29448078</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireFistAce/pseuds/FireFistAce</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Gai has never been extremely good with weapons, always preferring his bare hands, but Anbu required a vast knowledge of everything so he had trained himself hard and then harder to learn even just the basics.<br/>He still wasn’t as good as many others, but he also had a lot of aces up his sleeves.</p>
<p>---</p>
<p>Gai has joined Anbu. He thinks everything will go smoothly, but nothing ever goes as it should in the shinobi world.<br/>Something happens. Many things happens, to be honest, and Gai is not sure if he can keep up with everything.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>You can't decide not to care anymore (because I care, and I'll make you care about this, too) [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1693348</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Blurry lines</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello everyone, this story was previously uploaded with the title "And so it begins", but I wasn't satisfied with what I had written so I've ultimately decided to take it down and write it again.<br/>I've also changed some things in the previous fic, "It hurts so much, that in the end it doesn’t hurt anymore". It hasn't changed very much, I've mostly corrected some grammar mistakes and added a couple of things to make the story flow better, but if you want to re-read it before this one feel free to.<br/>Updates will be slow, so I hope y'all will be patient.<br/>That being said, enjoy the story!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The mask is very nice, Gai decides after a month in Anbu. It’s heavy on his face, but it’s not uncomfortable. He’s pretty sure he saw a couple of seal engraved on the inside, but he doesn’t know what they are about.</p>
<p>The porcelain is cold against his skin, and it keeps him focused on the here and now.</p>
<p>He needs it. Today he’ll be formally introduced to the other Anbu operatives.</p>
<p>His mask has changed. For a month it had been white and anonymous, lifeless, one in the middle of dozens others, all Anbu trainees who still needed to be fully accepted in the terrible world that Anbu was.</p>
<p>Now, Gai’s mask is not white anymore. In it’s place, a boar mask. Boar is Gai’s codename now, whenever he dons the mask Maito Gai doesn’t exists anymore.</p>
<p>Gai is completely okay with that.</p>
<p>“You ready, kid?”</p>
<p>The voice behind him almost makes him flinch, but Gai has trained himself so hard and he keeps the reaction under control. He straightens his posture instead, making himseld look taller, bigger. More intimidating. Then, he nods.</p>
<p>Gai takes a barely shaky breath, when the figure behind him opens the wooden door in front of them, and too many eyes locks on him as soon as he enters the room.</p>
<p>“Here’s the new kid!” The Anbu that’s with him says, a gloved hand on his shoulder, and Gai needs to refrain himself from shaking the unwanted touch away.</p>
<p>Everyone is looking at him, and it makes Gai uncomfortable.</p>
<p>Eyes he doesn’t know are looking at him like they’re trying to scan his very soul.</p>
<p>Or maybe he does know them.</p>
<p>How many people he sees all around the village every day are hidden behind those unsettling masks?</p>
<p>“He doesn’t speak,” the Anbu that accompanied him says. They’re still talking and Gai just wants this to be over with, wants to take his missions and forget himself. “But he’s good at making himself clear when he wants to.”</p>
<p>Of course he’s good at it. There is no real reason for Gai to stay silent, if nor for the fact that he doesn’t like talking. Whenever he’s out of his uniform he has to be as loud as possible, just like he was before his father’s death.</p>
<p>Gai hates being loud. He hates passing as an annoying brat that only thinks about taijutsu and challenges and Kakashi and curry.</p>
<p>But that’s his persona. That’s the mask that hides the numb person he’s become.</p>
<p>“Hound, he’s with you.” The hand on Gai’s shoulder gives just a little push towards his new Captain, and for a couple of seconds they just stares at each other in silence.</p>
<p>Gai knows very well who hides under <em>that</em> particular mask. Kakashi has never made a secret of his status in Anbu, he has no qualms in using his techniques or his hounds when out on a mission, and it’s like a very badly kept secret.</p>
<p>It’s not like it’s anything Gai should concern himself with, and he bows before his new Captain, silently acknowledging and accepting him, ready to follow his orders.</p>
<p>Hound doesn’t say nor does anything for far longer than a couple of seconds, instead just staring at Gai’s bowed form, before letting out a silent sigh.</p>
<p>“Don’t get killed or maimed on your first mission. It would be a pain to find a new member so soon after the last one.”</p>
<p>Gai simply nods, even if the knowledge that he’s replacing someone dead, for some reason, weights on his very soul.</p>
<p>He doesn’t say anything though. He keeps his mouth shut and his head down.</p>
<p>-ç-</p>
<p>The first mission as an official Anbu operative seems fairly easy, but Gai knows not to be fooled.</p>
<p>Every mission could go wrong, after all, even a simple C-rank.</p>
<p>The target is clear. This is no silent assassination mission, they don’t need to hide in the dark to slaughter someone in their sleep, even if they still need to kill.</p>
<p>But that’s a given. Anbu missions are often about killing someone.</p>
<p>Team Ro’s target is traveling. Nine rogue nins, four defector from Konoha, two from Iwa and three from Kiri.</p>
<p>Gai wonders how they came together, but quickly puts that thought aside. He can’t afford distraction, he thinks.</p>
<p>Nine against three is good, Gai thinks as he looks at his teammates.</p>
<p>Gai hasn’t spoken with Cat yet, but the way they exchange silent signs with Hound speaks of a familiar pattern.</p>
<p>They’va probably known each other for a while, Gai thinks. Kakashi has been in Anbu for almost three years by now, it stands to reason that he’s met more people.</p>
<p>Gai’s eye is caught by Hound’s hand moving. He can barely see it, but he knows the signs by heart.</p>
<p>He has learnt every single one of them.</p>
<p>
  <em>Split. Cat. Four. Nord-est.</em>
</p>
<p>Hound sings, and Cat vanishes in the foliage without a sound.</p>
<p>
  <em>Boar. With me. Five. Ready.</em>
</p>
<p>Gai is not surprised that Hound wants to keep him close for his first mission. He probably wants to make sure that he won’t mess things up.</p>
<p>It’s normal, Gai tells himself. He’s the new one, and even if Anbu is ruthless and sharp and dark, Gai knows Kakashi a bit, and he knows that beneath the cold exterior there is someone who cares.</p>
<p>Gai flashes a single sign back. <em>Ready</em>. Hound takes his gaze away from him, angling his mask towards their target, before jumping from the tree they are perched on.</p>
<p>Gai follows right after, feet hitting the ground without making a single sound. His chakra is tightly locked down as to not get spotted or felt, his hand itching to unsheathe the tantō on his back.</p>
<p>Gai has never been extremely good with weapons, always preferring his bare hands, but Anbu required a vast knowledge of everything so he had trained himself hard and then harder to learn even just the basics.</p>
<p>He still wasn’t as good as many others, but he also had a lot of aces up his sleeves.</p>
<p>The two Anbu move in total silence, feet almost <em>gliding</em> on the ground without leaving a single trace.</p>
<p>Gai feels giddy, but he forces himself to stay focused on the mission.</p>
<p>A single wrong step can be fatal.</p>
<p>Hound’s right hand catches Gai’s attention again, making a quick sign before grabbing the hilt of his own tantō.</p>
<p>
  <em>Left.</em>
</p>
<p>Gai takes a deep breath to steel himself, slightly changing his direction to go left as Hound told him to, Kakashi probably going to the right as to encirle their enemies.</p>
<p>When Gai is in position, he can see Hound crouching between the leaves on the other side. The black of the Anbu uniform blends in with the shadows and Gai is pretty sure that he can see Hound only because Hound wants him to see him.</p>
<p>They don’t need sings this time.</p>
<p>Hound and Gai falls on their enemies in the exact same moment, both with their tantō in hand.</p>
<p>Gai is pretty sure that Kakashi’s Sharingan is swirling and glowing red behind the hound mask, but every mask is made with a special seal to conceal their eyes as to protect people with dojutsu like the Uchiha and the Hyuga.</p>
<p>There is no real fight to be honest, Kakashi and Gai together are no match even if they’re two against five.</p>
<p>Gai’s tantō slashes someone’s throat, blood spraying all over his uniform before he runs against the next opponent.</p>
<p>Gai takes out two out of five, and when he’s done he notices that Kakashi has finished the other three.</p>
<p>When Cat joins them, Gai notices that they’re as clean as they were when they arrived.</p>
<p>He’s a bit jealous of that. His uniform is dirty and bloody and it’ll be a pain in the ass to clean, but that’s okay.</p>
<p>With a small smirk, hidden behind the boar mask, Gai cleans his tantō from most of the blood before letting it slide back in its sheath.</p>
<p>Cleaning the bodies is not pretty, Gai decides as they chop down what’s left and then burn it afterwards, deleting the very existence of their opponents.</p>
<p>He almost threw up while he was cutting a leg away from its body, but he had managed to keep himself controlled.</p>
<p>Gai is pretty sure Hound stared at him the whole time.</p>
<p>The travel back home was uneventful and silent.</p>
<p>Gai is glad that he doesn’t have to talk. He’s happy to let people think that Boar is mute. If he had been outside his Anbu uniform he would have felt like he had to fill the silence, but with his mask on he doesn’t have to do that.</p>
<p>He can just enjoy the adrenaline still buzzing lowly in his body, making him feel alive for the first time in four years.</p>
<p>He’s not sure if it’s a good thing.</p>
<p>What would his father think, Gai muses, if he knew that his son, the boy he cared for and raised to be happy and full of love, felt alive while killing?</p>
<p>They were enemies, Gai thinks, but they were still people. Gai shouldn’t enjoy this.</p>
<p>But, Gai tells himself, his father is dead, isn’t he? Dai can’t see what his son has become. He can’t feel sad at the way his son looks like with the emotionless mask covering his face, or the way the black uniform makes him blend in with the shadows like he’s born for the job.</p>
<p>Hound sends him home when they reach Konoha, before seemingly disappearing, no doubt going to the Hokage to report back.</p>
<p>Gai is left with nothing else to do than to go home.</p>
<p>His uniform is dirty and his gloves are bloody. His body is coming down from the adrenaline and Gai is starting to feel the tiredness of his first Anbu mission.</p>
<p>He knows that it wasn’t a difficult mission, but he still can’t help the way his body demmands rest.</p>
<p>Getting naked, Gai takes a nice shower before heading to bed.</p>
<p>He will clean his uniform tomorrow, Gai thinks. Before he’ll have to leave his house and be Maito Gai once again, he will scrub away every proof of his job.</p>
<p>He will ask Genma and Ebisu to join him in his morning run around the village, and they will probably decline.</p>
<p>He will be loud, annoying and boisterous.</p>
<p>He will catch Kakashi around the village and he will loudly challenge him.</p>
<p>He already hates it all, he already misses the cold weight on his face, hiding his face and his identity from everyone.</p>
<p>He doesn’t know if it’s a good thing or not, but he doesn’t care.</p>
<p>
  <em>It’s not like everyone else will care.</em>
</p>
<p>Getting ready for bed, Gai finally lets his mind wander.</p>
<p>He stares at the ceiling until his eyes sting and burn, demanding to be closed.</p>
<p>Gai gives in.</p>
<p>He dreams of peace and silence.</p>
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